


Nighttime in the City

by deargoodbye



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26268010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deargoodbye/pseuds/deargoodbye
Summary: The first thing she did was yank open the curtains. With their sickly beige drawn to the edges of her sight, the world outside offered her a welcome wave.
Kudos: 2





	Nighttime in the City

The first thing she did was yank open the curtains. With their sickly beige drawn to the edges of her sight, the world outside offered her a welcome wave. Downstairs, the green trees swayed in the gentle breeze, orange streetlights dancing through the branches.

She slid the window open. The night air was cool, and she relished it on her cheeks and in her lungs. It felt purifying. She turned her eyes to the sky.

The city lights combed through the clouds like lovers' fingers, leaving lilac wisps of across the sky. The sky itself was a deep indigo, freckled with stars. She leaned on the window sill, extending a finger.

She started with Jupiter, then traced diagonally down to Saturn, then through eleven more stars. She reached for her phone and took a photograph. Her screen showed nothing but black, until she manually increased the brightness. Then it was beautiful.

She sent the photo to her parents. She wouldn't see them tonight, across the country. But they would gaze upon the same slice of sky, with its constellations spread out like a secret message.

She lowered her head and began to cry. With her eyes closed, the night was pitch black. Lonely and homesick, her heart yearned to go home, like a binary star locked in the gravity of another.

Shoulders shaking, she glanced up again. Clouds had rolled in to hover like sickly smog, stained orange by the city's lights bleeding into the sky. She hoped that the sky was clear back home.

She reached for a tissue to dry her eyes. The smothering clouds parted like curtains and the moon winked through. It was bright and full.

To her, it was alone in the sky. But it was whole. And even though its cool light was no substitute for a loving embrace, it would keep its eye on her throughout the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Gosh I had a really bad day where I just couldn't get out of bed until it was already evening... tried to practise mindfulness and this is how I processed my surroundings. Hope everyone is having a good day...or that your bad day will get better! <3


End file.
